tonight on "nightline." surrogate grandma, she gave her daughter the ultimate gift. at 61 years old, carrying and giving birth to her own grandson. one family's risky and controversial journey. and fighting pirates. a hidden war raging between pirates and the american hired guns to protect valuable ships. tonight we investigate the youtube videos raising questions about the wild west on the high seas. plus dance dance revolution. with nearly 120 million views online, we talk to the man who started the unlikely korean dance craze that's sweeping america. ♪

>> from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir in new york city. this is "nightline." september 7th, 2012. good evening. i'm cynthia mcfadden. tonight, pregnant at 61. when her young daughter needed a surrogate, one woman stepped up, giving birth and becoming a grandmother at the same time. and she is not alone. in fact, an illinois woman gave birth to her granddaughter just last week. but to quote president lyndon johnson, our problem is not making miracles. it's managing them. just because a woman can do this, doesn't mean that she should. here's abc's amy robach with one family's story. >> reporter: little finn and his 61-year-old grandmother christine casey share a very rare bond. not only is she his grandmother, but she's also his surrogate mother. >> how could that possibly happen?

no offense, but who would do that? and what doctor would let them do that? >> we kept thinking, we were going to be stopped anywhere along the way. at every turn, they kept saying, well, you're really in amazing shape. >> reporter: chris gave birth to her grandson as the surrogate for our daughter sarah and son-in-law bill's fertilized egg. >> what we really thought would happen is we'd ask a doctor about this and they'd say, oh, guys, really, it's time to move on. or call the psych ward. >> reporter: it wasn't the way sarah and bill imagined having a baby and it was a long hard-fought road that led them down this path. sarah is a professional life coach who had a major life issue of her own. >> there was nothing i could do of myself to make my body do this, become pregnant the way we wanted. >> reporter: you tried everything? >> we did. >> reporter: they tried two years of holistic therapies and other treatments for a total of

six rounds of in vitro fertilization. each cycle bringing the hope, this would be the one. >> there's financial depletion, emotionally. it gets tough. >> reporter: they did get pregnant through ivf and were going to have twins. but at 22 weeks, something went wrong. >> i woke up, felt completely fine, suddenly had a cramp, and i just saw blood. everything in me was, please be a dream. >> reporter: she miss carried miscarried the twins. and tried ivf two more times resulting in another pregnancy. but just six weeks later, another miscarriage. >> that's when i really started to question, would we ever even be able to have children? >> reporter: meanwhile newly retired chris was searching for her next calling when the inspiration to help sarah and bill carry a child to term came to her. >> it just hit like a ton of bricks. >> reporter: did you feel crazy for even thinking it? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: then you had to probably feel crazier saying it out loud. >> i had to go to my husband first. >> reporter: her husband was supportive so chris went to sarah and bill with the idea.

i want to know what your reaction was. >> i was stunned. absolutely stunned. >> the hardest thing in contemplating pursuing this idea, first and foremost, what are the risks to my mother's health? >> reporter: so they consulted with a doctor, who had conducted sarah's repeated ivf treatments. >> reporter: is a 60-year-old woman a good candidate for surrogacy? >> no. in general, the answer is no. but some 60-year-olds are perfectly capable of carrying a pregnancy. >> reporter: post-menopausal but medically cleared, chris received the traditional hormone treatments that prepare her uterus for pregnancy. it took two attempts, 30 years after her last pregnancy. >> reporter: were you ever embarrassed being pregnant and 60? >> i really was. especially at the beginning. i thought, i tried to go in and buy some new pants on my own. so i of course said, i have a daughter about my size, and she's expecting a baby.

>> i trusted her body. even though anyone could say to me, that's insane, she's advanced maternal age, this has hardly ever been done. it seemed more risky. but i trusted her body. something in me trusted this. >> was it difficult at all seeing your mother-in-law carrying your child? how did your head deal with that? >> if you go through the things that we went through, it changes your perception of reality. >> reporter: the closely monitored pregnancy ran its course without any complications and in due time -- >> nine months pregnant, 38 and a half weeks. amazing. >> reporter: at the age of 61. >> mama, how are you doing? grandmama? >> feeling good. >> reporter: finn finally arrived. tell me what the delivery was like? >> like the whole room was just holding breath. until that moment, i had complete confidence and then i was just like, you've got to breathe. just got to breathe. and he did.

>> yeah. >> yeah. >> it was the opposite of the heart breaking. it was like a cracking and it was amazing. >> yeah. >> want to go see the fire truck? >> reporter: like ivf was 35 years ago, advances in surrogacy today is a game-changer. a pregnancy at 61 is still unusual, but for them, it's a medical miracle. >> this is just how he got here. we absolutely see this in our family as something to celebrate. >> reporter: grandma chris says she doesn't plan on carrying another child, but sarah is optimistic that perhaps someday she'll be pregnant again. >> yeah! >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm amy robach in chicago. >> sarah's book "bringing in finn" is in stores now. thanks to amy. just ahead, the battle between pirates and hired guns on the high seas. what we found when we investigated this viral shoot-out.

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if you think plundering pirates and the high seas sounds more look a summer blockbuster than reality, we're about to bring you inside a very dangerous real world, where a war is raging between real-life pirates, and the private security companies whose armed guards protect valuable ships with billions of dollars at stake. abc's dan harris reports. >> reporter: it's a friday afternoon in the middle of the indian ocean, one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth, an area

infested with somali pirates. at the top of your screen, you can see a pirate 65 heading toward this american shipping vessel. >> i'll give you a weapon. stand by. >> reporter: the commercial ship is carrying a crew of american security guards, former navy seals. >> okay, let's go. the team leader orders a warning shot. go ahead. warning shot. but look what happens instead, a massive blast of gunfire. the pirate ship is perhaps hit or killed, crashes into the side of the ship. by the time it was over, an unknown number of pirates may have been killed or injured. this video offers a rare glimpse inside a largely hidden war, being fought between somali pirates and private security companies, with american lives and billions of dollars at stake. now allegations that these

maritime mercenaries are out of control. allegations that are even coming from people inside the industry. >> we absolutely fear that cowboys are out there. as a matter of fact i'm certain that there are. >> reporter: over the past few months, "nightline" has gone inside this shadowy high-seas conflict, traveling from somalia, to miami, to virginia, gaining special access, including to the company's whose men were involved in this shoot-out. >> so as you watch this, you believe your guys did the right thing at every step? >> absolutely. >> ceo of trident security said what you can't see is that as soon as his men fired warning shots, the pirates opened fire. >> if somebody was to look at that and make a blind statement of this is indiscriminate killing, they don't know what's going on. >> reporter: he argues that his men, who train here, in the waters off virginia beach, are up against a determined

sophisticated enemy. how bad is it out there? >> it's really bad because the seamen are scared to death. >> how sophisticated are the pirates? >> very sophisticated and they're getting better. >> somali pirates have carried out 170 successful hijackings and taking hostages. he has a full mock-up of a ship that he uses for training. he shows me the shockingly thin ladders that the pirates use to board. >> they're nimble enough to climb on something like this. >> absolutely. >> he also shows me the arsenal his men fight back with. >> that's what he use for all teams that are out there. >> reporter: on this video, you get a fascinating look at what it's like when pirates take over a commercial ship. one of the crewmen is filming, as the pirates bargain with the captain. >> no, no money. >> money should be from company. >> then, as they await their

ransom money, they settle right in, cooking in the galley, even sleeping in the crew's bed. but they are not always this peaceful. last year, pirates seized a yacht piloted by four americans, and murdered them. we were able to go inside somalia, a place of famine, poverty, and lawlessness, one of the last remaining safe haferns on earth for al qaeda. >> all you need is 30 seconds on the ground here to see how inhospitable this terrain is to any sort of life. >> is this one of the most dangerous places in the world? >> i really believe it's one of of the most violent places, yes. >> reporter: look around, the poverty is epic. job opportunities, non-giexiste. that's why so many turn to piracy. >> close to a billion dollars on guards. that's attracted security firms with varying levels of discipline from all over the

world. ♪ look at this music video allegedly made by russian marines. they blow up a pirate flotilla and then do target practice on it. >> a rocket-propelled greanade. -- >> reporter: kevin dougherty says elements of his own industry are totally out of control. >> we receive a lot of resumes from individuals and the subject line is, put me in, coach, i'm ready to kill a pirate. >> reporter: he can see there may be companies who need to be reigned in. he points out and the state department confirms, there have been no successful pirate attacks on ships protected by armed guards. so do not expect this controversial industry to disappear anytime soon. for "nightline," this is dan harris, in virginia beach. >> wow, thanks to dan harris. next, inside the mega viral

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nearly a 120 million youtube hits. americans can't get enough of the goofy korean music video called gangnam style. what makes it irresistible? abc's david wright takes a look. ♪ >> reporter: korean pop music, gangnam style. a viral video sensation. more than 120 million hits president the artist behind this video, burst on the american music scene last night. >> dude, you got over a hundred million on youtube right now for gangnam style. how does that feel? talk to me. >> reporter: you may not have

gotten the word, but the moves -- they have universal appeal. the video is number one on the itunes music video chart, trotting past taylor swift. the unlikely slightly chuby popstar behind the video is a 35-year-old south korean rapper. >> i didn't expect anything overseas at all. so i was just thinking to make a huge hit in korea that was my only purpose. >> reporter: abc's bureau chief sat down with psy who explained that gangnam refers to a wealthy seoul neighborhood. >> it's like beverly hills of korea. i don't look like beverly hills. and i'm saying beverly hills

style, myself, how embarrassing. like what is it? i think that was the point. >> reporter: even in the point is slightly lost in translation, the beat is so infectious that gangnam is now a bona fide international hit. so much so that nelly furtado is covering gangnam style at her concert. youtube is full of local adaptations. oregon style. london style. and of course here in l.a., home to one of the largest korean communities in the u.s. ♪ at dodgers stadium when they plucked psy out of the crowd, dance cam had no shortage of people who knew his signature horse trot. and in beverly hills itself, rodeo drive at the salon by maxine. so if i use the phrase gangnam style, does that mean anything

here in beverly hills? ♪ >> reporter: gangnam style flash mobs are also a youtube phenomenon. today we caught up with a choreographer hoz leading the flash mob scene. >> he's funny. anyone who is funny will capture an audience. >> you got to use your you were body also. it's a horse. psy was signed this week by justin bieber's manager. he's now poised to become the biggest korean popstar ever. >> to the future. ♪ >> reporter: psy is leading the charge, gangnam style. i'm david wright for "nightline" in beverly hills. >> oh, i'm worried about the "nightline" christmas party. thank you. thank you for watching abc news. gma will be waiting for you in the morning. have a great weekend, america. jimmy kimmel is next.